#october sup guy challenge

[undertheknightwing]

*slides in* Sup Fam, any fall headcanons for GarJon

You know I got headcanons for anything and everything! ✨️ it's a blessing and a curse really...

These aren't all GarJon focused, but are all fall/Halloween focused since I got more hcs that way

- The Kents go on a yearly fall hike + picnic as a family tradition someday in October and invited Gar one year because "you're a part of the family". Gar saw that day as one of the best of his life, he honestly thought of it as the most fun he had that year.

I like to hc that Clark is a bird guy, he knows a lot about them from research and watching, so that fact mixed with Gar's ability to be a walking nat geo wild, made them challenge each other to who could recognize the most birds on the hike. Clark won btw, Gar got too distracted with whatever nonsense Jon and Jordan got into.

And after that day, Gar was invited too almost every Kent Family adventure.. until he didn't need an invitation, of course. Once he's Garfield Kent, he didn’t need to be invited to his own family trip.

- Some day before Halloween Gar made it his mission to scare the shit out of Rachel, Tim, and Jordan since they're always calling him a softie, but knows he can't do it alone or just shapeshift into an animal since they'll know it's him so he gets in contact with someone to help. A very special someone.

So during the Smallville Halloween Hay Ride that takes a path along a lone back dirt road, a horse being rode by a man with a pumpkin head who breathes fire 'attacks' the hay ride and of course terrified everyone because it was too real to just be a Halloween prank and technically they'd be right. After everything is said and done, the headless horse man rides off and the hay ride returns, the kids go to tell the adults what happened only to find Gar waiting for them with a shit-eating grin on his face. They quickly realized the whole thing was Gar's plan to get back at them.

After he confirms he was the horse, they ask who the guy was and the pumpkin headed man seemingly appears out of no where then removes the pumpkin to reveal: Jon-El, which definitely shocks everyone but also makes Jon (who was in on everything, but wasn't aware Gar was working with someone) just a tiny.. wee bit.. jealous.

- The kids first Halloween together wasn't as spooky and slightly revenge filled as that one, it was just a good ol fashion trick or treat night. Jon was his own version of Fred Jones, Jordan was Sam Winchester, Rachel was a space themed witch to match the nickname Kory gave her, and Gar was an actual werewolf like monster. Gar got a lot of candy for how "realistic" his costume was.

The amount of times Jon said "Alright gang" that night was crazy.

- Gar carves a paw paint shape into his pumpkin while Jon carves a classic cartoon-y alien head into his and both think it's funny that their neighbors have no idea how accurate those two things are when they see the pumpkins set on the front porch.

- Gar's favorite movie to watch during Halloween is Coraline, but that's as creepy as it can get for him. Jon doesn't have any issues with horror movies, though he does think sci-fi/alien themed horror movies are dumb.. hm, I wonder why.

- Gar bakes the best damn cookies you will ever taste and that fact goes for all holidays, but his frosted Halloween ones seem to be a favorite.

- For some reason, he has no idea why, Jon is freaked out by scarecrows so cornmazes are not a go-to Halloween thing. And neither him nor Gar like to be trapped in small spaces or feel lost so that just adds to the no-go of cornmazes. That doesn't stop the crop circle jokes though.

- Until they had their own kids, Gar and Jon would dress up Krypto and walk around the neighborhood with her during Halloween night. The neighbors were very impressed they one, somehow dressed up a cat and two, trained her to only walk alongside them. Krypto in fact wasn't trained, she just does that. Occasionally she'll chase after a leaf.

- Speaking of their kids: because their son was born in October and is technically a vampire, Gar and Jon dressed Pax up in a bat onesie for his official first Halloween. The neighbors thought it was adorable and pointed out how cute his tiny fake fangs were, which made GarJon chuckle nervously since Pax's fangs aren't fake and how the hell are they gonna explain that in November.

[garthups]

the maze, part I

Part One of the story! Very excited to post this. -Leslie

I kept the car running in park while the shitty vents sputtered, trying my hands warm. Your Love by that band from the eighties was playing in the distance. I have a love-hate relationship with these roped off grassy parking lots, where there aren't actual spaces, just car anarchy. Take any spot you can find and let’s all hope that some semblance of a parking lot comes together. Sure there’s something inherently egalitarian about it, but they remind me of being scared to park when I was learning to drive. I was always positive that my Camry was too far over, and I’d brace myself for the crunch of metal on metal. 

The familiarity of coming to the maze made parking in the lot easier, and I didn’t have to reverse and drive into the same spot over and over again to be satisfied. My friends and I came to Hudler Farm every October for the autumn corn maze. Sometimes we’d take caramel apples in and chaunk through them while meandering.

 Fuck, that was always so fun. High school seems like a lifetime ago though. All it takes are a few hundred miles, and staggered midterms, and suddenly you talk to the guy in the dorm next to yours who gets drunk on natty seltzer more than the people who got you through your mcr phase.

 None of us got together last year, which was a bummer, but out of the blue Lottie messaged Sam and me. I watched the shadowy families walk by in the dark, my hands weren’t getting any warmer though. The idle LEDs were dim enough that I could see outside. A little boy running after his parents tripped and fell in the mud. I stifled a chuckle, because kids falling down is hilarious, and tried to screw with the vents, but they were already all open. Piece of shit car. When I looked up, the boy was still splayed out on the ground, shivering. Both his parents kept walking though. I scrunched my brow. I started fidgeting with my seatbelt, but my hands didn’t have much feeling in them. People were just walking around him, like he wasn’t there. 

“WHAT’S up dog!” My door exploded open.

“JESUS fucking god Lottie, I--” She took her spot in the passenger seat, laughing her ass off.

“Sorry sorry sorry, wow Phoebs I got you pretty good huh?”

“I mean yeah I’m just so ready to get killed in this parking lot. Hey I think that kid hurt himself out there pretty bad.” I breathed, still shaken.

“What kid?”

“That one.”

“Oh that one, sorry it’s dark, so it took me a sec. Yeah let’s go help.” Honestly, I could never stay mad at Lottie. Seeing her new dreads in person made me miss the big buns she wore in high school. We slammed the doors shut, and stepped onto the ground covered in too-damp leaves. Two guys beat us to him though, and they were helping him up.

“Oh wait, is that the kid you meant?”

“Lottie, why would I be talking about a kid that isn’t sprawled out on the ground.”

“I thought this one was playing snake or something. Anyway, let’s go meet Sam’s friend!”

We walked over to the boys, Sam’s friend was getting the kid back on his feet. Sam’s friend was a good head taller than he was, which wasn’t saying too much. The guy gave off an eagle scout vibe though, so his height was probably pretty important to him. Maybe camp counselor would have been closer. He was gently reassuring the kid.

“Feeling better? Okay, better go catch your folks, and make sure not to stay too far behind them, bud, okay?”

“Good call man, I thought he was just playing snake.” Sam glowed.

“Sup fuckers!” Lottie sang. The boy turned around, he looked about nine, so Lotties curse made him bust a grin. From the looks of it he scraped his cheek pretty bad. He dashed off. Sam’s friend laughed nervously since Lottie broke the unspoken rule of swearing in front of kids.

“Hey dudes! It’s so awesome to see you!” Sam laughed. “I told Matrix everything about you, so there’s no need to divulge any information to him. Don’t trust this guy with any more embarrassing stories about yourselves.” Matrix waved shyly, and I rolled my eyes.

“That’s cool. You know we called Sam “Shrimpy” all of sophomore year because his hair got all curly and he dyed it red?”

“Thanks Phoebe, that is something I like people to know about me.” Sam said while subconsciously making sure his hair was still a tight buzz cut. Matrix smiled a little.

“You must be Lottie?”

“It’s great to meet you! Lets get some apples.” 

The four of us were waved through by the teen collecting tickets. The entrance to the maze had a little banner raised up on two poles and a chair with an admissions person. Next to the entrance was a main pavilion with a tiny shop and some picnic tables out under the roof. Lots of families were congregating there, buying souvenirs and farm t-shirts. Thankfully this wasn’t one of the maze theme nights according to a big promotional calendar that outlined all the dates. Lottie groaned when she saw that they added alien night and we hadn’t bought tickets.

“Like what does that even mean though. Are there aliens in the maze? Do they scare us?” Sam said eyeing the kettle corn buckets.

“Yeah I mean, it’s probably just like zombie night and mermaid night where you just get like jumpscared by teens in costumes. Freakin aliens though! Imagine!”

“Uhh did you say they do a mermaid night here?” Matrix said.

“Dude I never told you about that! You’re looking at the three scariest volunteer mermaid teens that Hudler farms has ever known. We were unholy legends flopping after scared families.”

Sam and Lottie were wide eyed crowding around Matrix, telling him all about the glory days. Made me pity him, his bud probably had a whole different energy at college.

“They’re fucking with you! Why in god’s name would a corn maze have a mermaid night.” I finally shouted. Lottie pouted.

“Boooooo Phoebe! How dare you!” I wrapped my face up in my scarf to escape guilt. 

We all mostly ate our caramel apples under the pavilion just so we could give Matrix the rundown of the maze. The Hudler farm maze has these eight checkpoints which give you special tickets. 

“We don’t leave without all eight. Got it? Dee oh en tee. I don’t give a fuck if we die trying.” Lottie said through a mouth of caramel and nuts. It felt surreal having my friends here again. After all, the limited exposure I had to them was social media. I lived vicariously through the photos they posted of new friends.

There was a sign in the pavilion that gave us a rough idea of where all the checkpoints in the maze were. I resisted the urge to take a photo in order to preserve the challenge that the maze posed. Probably didn’t need it to beat our best time. I was the only one who hadn’t finished their apple for traditions sake. Hopefully the caramel wouldn’t freeze though.

“Ok so let's remember to hit that cluster of checkpoints in the northern corner first. We're gonna take a lot of rights and then keep going on that long stretch forward.” I strategized.

“I’ll eat that apple if you’re not going to Phoeb, you know I’m psyched that they got pink ladies this year instead of grannies smiths.” Begged Sam.

“I did a few youth group trips to corn mazes, so this isn’t my first rodeo guys don’t worry!” Matrix added.

“That’s cool.” Phoebe said straight faced. I wanted to laugh, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Before I could respond, I saw it. I inhaled slowly as I took in the scene before us. The moon was thin and most of the lights were under the pavilion itself, but I felt like I should’ve noticed something so wrong before.

“Why is the all corn so fucking tall.” The question, er -- statement hung in the air for a few seconds while the maze came into view for everyone else. Corn stalks get surprisingly tall late in autumn, maybe like ten feet. This stuff though. It was like, way way way too tall. And not irregular. So, regular. The maze looked like it could have been a trimmed hedge. All the stalks stretched up and up, reaching out for the sky, each of them trying to escape from the ground. I suddenly was at a loss, something so ordinary was wrong in such an obvious way. Finally, Lottie broke our silence.

“Shit.” Great. I mean, she wasn’t wrong.

“That’s amazing. God is it this tall every year? That’s the tallest corn I’ve ever seen, must be 30 feet! Maybe more.” Finally Matrix had found something to be upbeat about.

“Ahh no man. It’s like normal usually. Lottie are you feeling alright? Do you want to take a sec before we head in.”

Matrix jumped in. “Nothing to be worried about. I’m sure it’s just like GMO’s or something. Gotta up the yield. They should seriously lead with that in the advertising though. Corn jungle! Towering Corn! Feast your eyes ladies and gentlemen on the worlds first corn metropolis!” He broke the spell on Lottie with his campy broadcaster voice. She joined in: “Keep your dame close as you delve into the mysterious corn caverns, where the CORN DRAGON DWELLS.”

Matrix Chuckled. “Well I don’t know about that. Hard to deliver on a corn dragon. But look I’m sure it’s fine, everyone else doesn’t seem to mind.” It was true, the usual fare of families and teen groups were venturing into the maze without concern. I watched the family from the parking lot get a safety flashlight from the teen working the entrance. I breathed in through my teeth.

“For a second I thought you actually made jokes, scooter. You’re right, it’s probably just a good year for tall corn. We can go.”

“Phoebster, you good?” Sam nudged me. It honestly took me a second longer than Lottie to take in all the explanations. It was such a weird thing to be off in such a significant way. Must have been some primal instinct of being afraid of the dark. The corn stalks were darker than the night sky around them; I tried to catch glimpses through the stalks but they blanketed out the stars. 

“Yeah sorry about that guys. I’ll remember more of the strategy once we’re in the maze. Let’s blow through this thing!” 

We went into the maze.

[asofterfan]

Winter Winds

Chapter 2: Wake Me Up When September Ends

Previous ~ Next

Summary: A new client arrives...

Warnings: None that I can think of (shocking I know)

The next morning, to absolutely no one’s surprise, Remy burst through the door of the shop at 11am.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know I’m late, but it wasn’t my fault this time!” Remy panted. He was in the ragged sweatpants and baggy crop top that everyone in the shop recognized as his pajamas, a flannel wrapped hastily around his waist. Gripping his coffee and a pastry bag like a lifeline, he looked around the shop frantically, “Where’s the client, I’ll share my muffin or something to appease them.”

“Oh, their appointment isn’t for another half hour,” Ali deadpanned.

“…Excuse me?”

“Yeah,” Ali drawled with a smirk, “I had a feeling this would happen so I told you the appointment time was an hour earlier than it actually is.”

Remy sputtered indignantly, “That’s…! How dare you, I….!”

“Remy, drink your coffee,” Rafael chimed in, snickering, “Your sleepy sass sounds do not make a particularly compelling argument.”

Huffing, Remy threw his bag onto a chair in his station, “You guys are the worst. I ran here. RAN. I haven’t moved that fast since gym class in high school.”

“You expect us to believe you ran in gym?” Cass challenged.

“Exactly! You guys are literally worse than high school gym!” Remy glared at each of them in turn, shoving his muffin into his mouth angrily.

Shaking their heads fondly, the rest of the staff returned to their various tasks as Remy finished his breakfast, sipping on his coffee. The caffeine didn’t hit fast enough and he found himself yawning. “Uuuuuuuugh,” Remy groaned, throwing himself into an empty chair at the front desk and laying his head on his arms.

“Sleepyhead, don’t-” Brett began before being cut off.

“Relax, gurl, I’m just resting my eyes.”

Brett shook his head, “Famous last words.”

~

“Remy.”

The artist groaned, burrowing his face deeper into his arms.

“Remyyyyy.”

Someone was shaking his shoulder, but he couldn’t be bothered to do anything more than grumble. Surely whoever it was would leave him alone soon.

“REMY!”

A loud ‘BANG’ inches from his face had Remy shooting upright, sunglasses clattering onto the desk and nearly falling out of his chair as he regained his bearings, blinking rapidly. Heart still beating rapidly, he turned to glare at Cass, who was staring down at him with a smirk, her hands still on the desk where she had hit it to wake him up.

“What kind of disrespect?!” Remy exclaimed.

Cass only snickered, “Hey, we warned you not to ‘rest your eyes’, Sleepyhead,” She crossed her arms as she chastised him, “Your client is here, so look alive!”

A light chuckle came from behind her, and for the first time Remy noticed the newcomer. The man was short, standing only slightly taller than Cass’ 5’5”, but he was muscular, and he fit in perfectly with the studio. Ripped jeans and a tattered black tee shirt under a leather jacket, with tattoos poking out from the neckline. He had an undercut, short black hairs contrasting sharply with the messy red/orange gradient that fell around his face, and dark circles under his eyes. When they made eye contact, he gave Remy a crooked smirk, raising his hand lazily in greeting.

“‘Sup.”

Raising an eyebrow, Remy sighed through his nose before grabbing his sunglasses and plastering on a smile as he pushed them onto the top of his head, “Hey gurl, sorry I’m late-”

“I mean, technically you were here on time-”

“Whatever, yeah,” Remy waved his hand dismissively as he gathered his notebooks and his now cold coffee, “Alright, let’s get this appointment going,” He sauntered past the two, entering the lounge in the back, dropping into one of the couches, “Come on, chop chop, waiting on you hon.”

Shaking his head in amusement, the client followed leisurely, as Cass rolled her eyes and returned to her own station.

The lounge was situated past the entry area, and was cleaner and more professional than the staff break room in the back. Photos of the staff and framed art covered the walls, along with a copy machine in the corner, a few couches, and a large coffee table with the artists’ portfolios spread out across it. Consultations were always held in the lounge so that both the client and the artists could be comfortable as they discussed their projects.

As the man sat down, Remy held a hand out, “As you’ve probably already gathered, I’m Remy.”

“Toby,” he replied, shaking the offered hand. Remy noticed his eyes dart down to his pronoun necklace, but he didn’t make any comment.

“So,” Remy crossed his legs, getting comfortable, “let’s talk tatts. I can see you have some tattoos already, you been to our shop before?”

Toby leaned his arms against the back of the couch casually, “Nah. I lived a few hours away during college and just moved back last year. This is the first tattoo I’ve gotten since then.”

Remy nodded, “Alright, so I’ll need to get your information before you leave for our files. But first, tell me about what you’re looking to get.”

Nodding, Toby pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, smoothing it out as he handed it to the artist with a grin, “I want to get this quote in the center of my back, with some kind of border around it.”

“Well that’s not vague at all,” Remy drawled, taking the page and looking down at the quote.

“Ha! I know, I know,” Toby rubbed at his neck, grinning sheepishly, “I guess I was kind of thinking maybe like, branches, or leaves or something. But honestly I’m open to anything if you’ve got any ideas.

Remy hummed noncommittally. Maybe it was because he was still a little drowsy, but he couldn’t think of anything other than the usual cliches. Virgil might be able to come up with something. “This is a pretty long quote. How big did you want this?”

“I don’t have any tattoos on my back, so I’m cool with it taking up as much space as you think it needs.”

“How do you feel about editing this quote down a little? Just to give some more room for the design.”

Tilting his head, Toby thought about it for a moment, “I think that’d be fine. Could I edit it down myself and email it to you once I’ve worked out what I want?”

“Yeah girl, ain’t no thing,” taking a long sip of his coffee, he leaned back against the couch, “Now, a tattoo this big isn’t going to be cheap, or quick. Obviously what you choose for the final design for the border will effect it, but if I had to guesstimate I’d say you’re looking at probably a four hour session. We could also break it into two session if you wanted.”

“Cool, that’s about what I expected,” he grinned, “Don’t worry, I’ve been saving for this.”

“Oh, I wasn’t worried,” Remy raised an eyebrow, “We get your card information before we start inking. I ain’t letting anyone tatt and dash.”

Toby barked out a laugh, “That’s a good system.”

“Mmhmm,” Remy nodded, making a few quick notes in his notebook, “Alright. I’mma need to photocopy your ID and have you fill out some paperwork while we work out a date for you.”

Nodding, Toby pulled out a beat up leather wallet, pulling out his driver’s license to give to the artist. Remy took it and stood to go to the copy machine when he suddenly froze, staring down at the plastic card.

“Toby, huh?” Smirking teasingly, Remy waved the card in front of him, “Cause this says your name is October.”

Raising an eyebrow, the man in question grinned, “Who doesn’t love October?”

“I’m not a fan,” Remy deadpanned. It was a total lie, of course, October was objectively the best month, “Besides, if that’s the case why go by Toby? Honestly if no one calls you Doc Oct then what’s the point?” Suddenly he gasped, “Wait. Hold up. Girrrrrrrl why do I suspect you have too many autumn tatts?”

“I have exactly the right amount of autumn tatts.”

Looking back down at the license, Remy burst into giggles, “And your birthday is October 1st?? This is too much, like, I am unprepared for this situation.”

“Falling for me already?” Toby leaned forward, eyes bright and wearing playful grin.

Shaking their head, Remy pulled out a form from one of the drawers in the coffee table, “Tsk, I’m surprised it took you that long to bust out a pun,” he handed the paper to him.

“I try to ease people into the fact that I’m both hot and witty,” he grabbed a pen from the coffee table and began filling in his information.

“And modest, too,” Remy leaned against the copy machine as he waited for it to finish printing.

“What can I say, I’ve got it all.”

“Except height.”

Toby gasped dramatically, putting a hand over his heart in mock offense, “Low blow!”

“Any higher and it’d go over your head,” Remy grinned, tossing his ID onto the coffee table and setting the photocopy aside.

Chuckling, the man returned to filling out the form, “Don’t think I didn’t notice the heels on those boots. You can’t be that much taller than me.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Remy took out his phone, leaning against the wall as he flipped through his calendar, “Alright, so as far as setting you up with an appointment. I’ll need some time to get the design drawn up and approved by you. Plus I’m pretty booked, so next available time slot I could fit you in would be next month on the 18th at noon.”

“What day of the week is that?”

“Wednesday.”

“Hm, no go. Do you have anything on Thursday? The 19th?”

Remy scrolled down the page before nodding, “Yeah, that day is clear. You can pick the time.”

“Let’s do 1pm, I am not a morning person,” Toby looked up and smirked, holding out the completed form to Remy.

“Mood,” Remy grinned back, looking over the page to double check everything looked good before grabbing a stapler from next to the copy machine to attach the photocopy of Toby’s ID. “Alright then, I think you’re set.”

“Aw, getting rid of me already?” Toby leaned forward, chin in hand and he smiled up at the artist, “But we’re having so much fun.”

“So let’s quit while we’re ahead, mmkay?” Tossing his hair back, he picked up his notebook from the table, “I’ll email you once I have a sketch of the design to get your opinion or whatev.”

“I look forward to it,” he stood with a wink.

Remy deadpanned, “Well that makes one of us.”

“So cold,” Toby shook his head with a laugh, “Alright, thanks for everything. We’ll talk soon.”

“Uh huh, byeeee,” Remy waved his fingers as Toby finally left the shop. He barely made it to his station to put his things away and start preparing for his next appointment when Cass’ face peaked above the wall dividing their stations.

“Soooo,” She grinned teasingly, “You two seemed to get along.”

“Ali said I have to have some level of professional courtesy with the clients,” Remy raised an eyebrow.

Cass rolled her eyes, “Oh come on, you were both sassing easy as breathing! He’s the first person I’ve seen in a long time, if ever, that could keep up with you.”

“Oh my God, so what? Witty banter happens, it’s all around us, be more chill, girl.”

“You have his number~” she sing-songed, pointing to the form Remy was putting into his client drawer.

“Yeah, I needed his contact info. He’s my client.”

“Oh come on, we’re not doctors or anything, there’s no rule against artist/canvas relationships.”

“‘Relationships’? Ew.”

Cass laughed, “Alright, maybe not a relationship, but there’s nothing stopping you from tapping that!”

Remy felt his teeth clench together, and a lot of words flew through his mind, but he didn’t feel like he had the self-restraint to say any of them in less than a scream. So he settled for a cold, “Right, nothing at all,” as he pushed his sunglasses down over his eyes and returned to looking over the designs he needed to print for his next client.

“Hey, Sleep, I was just kidding,” Cass’ voice was a little softer, “We all know you’re not into that. It was a joke.”

It was a joke he’d heard too many times. It wasn’t really funny anymore. Still, he glanced over the top of his glasses and smiled, “I know, hon, it ain’t no thing.”

“You just seemed to get along more than you usually do with clients,” Cass continued, “If nothing else he just seems like a cool guy.”

“Ooooh, you sure you don’t want to tap that?” Remy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Cass threw a crumpled up piece of paper at him as he laughed, “This is what I get for trying to expand your social circle!”

“Give up, babe, I’m a lone wolf,” He grinned. Cass shook her head in fond exasperation as they both returned to their work. Tapping on his phone, Remy entered Toby’s information into his calendar to mark his appoint.

After putting his phone in his pocket, October didn’t even cross his mind.

[turtle-steverogers]

the good and the bad

hi i want bread

warnings: death uh, crying

editing: no

ship: ralbert

word count: like 2000 ish

September 23

Leaves crunched under Race’s shoes, the noise amplified by the accompanying silence.  It was warm still, the sun bleeding persistently through the trees, combated only by the few leaves that remained on the branches.  There wasn’t a clear path through the woods.  The thick underbrush made it nearly impossible to walk normally, but he persisted, trudging onward.

He wasn’t entirely sure where he was going.  He just needed to clear his head; get out of the house for a little while.  He was craving somewhere new and exotic, but his options were limited within his small hometown.

So he decided to expand his horizons within the confines of his little bubble.  Explore a little- find somewhere new and refreshing.

So when his legs carried him off of the sidewalk and into the expansive stretch of woods that surrounded his neighborhood, he resolved to trusting his instinct.  

It was a pleasant Fall day.  Entirely ideal for this sort of adventure and he smiled, feeling at ease in his afresh solitude.  The land sloped downward and the tangle of trees thinned out to reveal a small clearing.  

Yellow grass blanketed the flat land, countered only by the small clumps of flowers that were scattered at random.  The tree line seemed to create a perfect circle, sheltering the area from the outside world.  

Race had long since lost track of the sound of traffic and other clues to life, but he didn’t mind much.  He was getting what he came for.

He trailed along the edge of the clearing, coming to a halt in front of two trees.  He sat down, leaning his back against the trunk of the nearest tree and closing his eyes, allowing the sounds of nature to swallow him.

“Yo,” a voice sounded directly above him and his eyes flew open, his heart leaping into his chest as he froze.  Someone dropped out of the tree adjacent to him, sticking the landing heavily.

Race’s gaze traveled from the guy’s shoes to his face, taking note of the utterly obnoxious way he was dressed.  Despite his borderline fuckboy clothing, he was charming- attractive even.  The sun reflected flatteringly in his auburn hair and he seemed to have a permanent glint in his eyes.

The guy barked out a laugh, “Didn’t mean to scare you, sorry, but,” he raised his eyebrows, “did you just check me out?”

Race fought the smile that threatened to grow on his face, “Nah, bro, you just literally landed in my line of sight.”

The guy studied him for a moment before plopping down in front of him, crossing his legs and sticking out a hand, “‘Sup, bro, I’m Albert.”

Race allowed a small smirk to form as he took Albert’s hand, “Race.”

“Race,” Albert said, slowly, “exotic, I like it.”

“It’s not exotic,” Race countered, “It’s a nickname.”

“Even cooler,” Albert said, “So,” he leaned back, propping himself up on his forearms and stretching his legs in front of him, “what brings you to my woods?”

Race cocked his head, letting out an amused huff, “Your woods?”

“Hell yeah, man,” Albert said, throwing his head back and looking towards the sky, his hair falling behind him, “been coming to this place to catch my breath since I found it like a year ago.  No one else has ever come, so I called dibs on it.”

Race quirked an eyebrow, “How could you call dibs when no one else was around to challenge that.”

Albert furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at Race, “Uh,” he paused, “well you’re here now, so, dibs.”

September 24

“Welcome back.”

Race grinned up at Albert where he was standing on a branch right above his head.

“Couldn’t stay away?” Albert asked, sitting on the branch and reaching a hand out to help Race up.

Race floundered for a moment before settling beside Albert, dangling his legs towards the ground, “Guess I couldn’t,” he admitted, “S’nice here.”

“Sure is,” Albert said, turning to face Race and sitting back against the trunk, propping one leg on Race’s lap and letting the other swing back and forth, suspended in the air.

Race looked down at the leg on his lap, “Already on this level, huh?”

Albert laughed, lifting his leg and poking Race in the chin with his shoe.  Race yelped rearing backwards slightly and nearly losing balance.  Albert’s eyes widened and he sat up hastily, grabbing Race’s bicep before he could fall completely.

“Whoop, sorry about that,” he said, sincerely.

“You’re good,” Race said, gripping Albert’s hand to steady himself, “I’m good.”

The silence they fell into was oddly comfortable.  Although Race hadn’t known Albert for very long, but something about him felt familiar- reassuring- and as they sat in the tree, watching the sky turn from dull blue to orange, he couldn’t help but feel as if something had led him here.  A pull stronger than curiosity.

October 14

“You okay?”

Albert wasn’t in the tree when Race showed up.  Instead he was sat on the grass, knees bent in front of him.  His eyes looked oddly devoid of their usual glint and Race frowned, worry spreading through his chest.  He didn’t give any hint as to whether he’d heard Race or not and Race could see his fingers twitching as he fiddled with his watchband.

“What’s up?” he asked gently as he sat next to Albert.

Albert’s eyes flicked towards him for a moment, the only acknowledgement he’d made to his presence so far.  He didn’t answer the question directly, his shoulders shrugging somewhat uncomfortably as he spoke.

“M’not gonna be good company right now, you don’t gotta stick around.”

Race grimaced, “We don’t gotta talk about it, but I’ma stay, dude.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause I like it here, too,” Race said, “And I care about you, I don’t want you to be alone.”

Albert nodded, lowering his chin to his knees, “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“Anytime.”

The breeze around them picked up, and Race clenched his teeth to keep them from chattering.  He scooted towards Albert slightly, hoping he’d take the invitation.  To Race’s surprise, he did, tucking his head onto his shoulder and shifting closer as well.  It wasn’t much, but it provided some shield against the wind.

“We should bring a blanket out here or something,” Albert stated, “It’s getting too fucking cold.”

“It’s not that cold,” Race pointed out, “Only, like, 50 something degrees.”

“Too cold,” Albert pouted.

Race laughed, shrugging the shoulder Albert was leaning against, “Alright, buddy.”

Their breaths synced, an even rhythm echoing between them.  Race closed his eyes, allowing tranquility to envelope him.  He wasn’t sure how long they sat there, but neither of them seemed to want to move.

“My little brother is sick again,” Albert spoke softly, “And he’ll be fine, I hope, but shit in my house always gets really hectic when he gets flare ups and I just,” he sighed, moving almost impossibly closer to Race, “I wish it didn’t have to be like that.”

Race nodded, placing his hand over Albert’s and rubbing his thumb across his knuckles soothingly, “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Albert said, trailing off for a moment before continuing, “It hurts seeing Elijah like that and I know it hurts my dad and Thomas, too.  I wish we could all just be happy and healthy.”

“You will be one day,” Race tried to console him, “One day, Elijah’s gonna beat this shit and you’ll all live long, happy, healthy lives together.”

“I hope so.”

October 31

“Broughtcha some candy, dumbass.”

Race had gotten there before Albert that day, opting to arrive early and set up the mini blanket fort under the tree they’d been plotting for ages while Albert took his brothers trick or treating.

He peeked his head out from the blanket that draped down from the lowest branch, acting as a door.  Albert was staring at the fort with wide eyes, pillowcase full of candy in hand.

“This is sick,” he breathed, snapping out of his reverie and joining Race inside.  

He’d opted out of adding a roof, content with peering upwards past the treetops where faint, twinkling stars could be seen.

“I know, I slaved on it for hours for you,” Race teased, plucking a snickers bar out of the bag and popping it in his mouth.  

“Fake,” Albert said, smiling at him.

“You’re right,” Race said through a mouthful of chocolate, “Took me like fifteen minutes.”

They laid back on the comforter that Race had laid out as the floor, pulling another blanket over themselves as they settled in.  They curled into each other, fitting together like a puzzle piece.  It felt natural, the way they melded into one another so seamlessly, a silent understanding ingrained into their souls.  

Race rested his head on Albert’s chest rolling over enough so he could still see upwards.  He could feel Albert’s heart beating beneath him.  The steady pulse grounding him and pulling him further into the earth, cementing warmth into his stomach.

He lifted his head, rolling onto his stomach and propping himself up onto one elbow.  Albert looked down at him, a silent question in his eyes.  He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it, eyes flicking almost inconspicuously down to Race’s mouth.

Race leaned forward, eyes falling closed as he pressed his lips to Albert’s.  They let out simultaneous sighs, the final knot tied as they deepened the kiss.  

Neither of them pulled back for a while, losing themselves in each other.  Eventually, Race leaned away, keeping his eyes closed as he felt a smile stretch across his face.

A hand brushed his face and he opened his eyes, seeing Albert looking back at him with an awed expression.

“I love you.” Albert’s voice was a faint whisper, the words reserving themselves for only Race.

“I love you, too,” he whispered back.

November 11

Race sat and waited in the clearing, hours upon hours passing with no Albert.  Figuring he must have just been busy, Race left.

November 20

Once again, Race was left alone in the clearing.  This time, a sick feeling in his gut growing more intense as the minutes passed.  He hadn’t heard from Albert in days.  Something wasn’t right.

November 30

A month since the kiss.  Three weeks since he’d last seen Albert.  No sign from him.  No explanation.  Nothing.  

Race sat numb, back against the same tree as he stared at the sky, wishing for answers it couldn’t provide.

December 3

It was officially cold.  The real definition, not Albert’s, and as Race trekked towards where he’d discovered the other boy lived, he couldn’t stop his body from shaking.

Partly from nerves, mostly from the biting wind.

He knocked at the door, shoving his hands in his pockets as he waited.  A boy, no older than 13 answered, staring at him with quizzical eyes.

“Yes?”

“Uh, hi,” Race swallowed, the realization that he had no idea what he was going to say hitting him like a truck, “I’m a friend of Albert’s, are you Elijah?”

The boy shook his head, “Nah, Thomas.”

“Right, sorry,” Race said, “uh, nice to meet you, is Al home?”

Something in the boy’s face changed and his eyes grew cold as he answered, “He’s not here anymore.”

The world seemed to muffle and Race shook his head, confused, “What do you mean?”

The boy blew a breath out through his nose and he looked to the side, “I mean,” he looked back at Race, eyes glistening, “He’s not here anymore.  Freak football accident.  You’re his friend, didn’t you hear about it?”

But Race couldn’t hear anything anymore.  He distantly heard himself thank Thomas and turned away before the door closed.  The world was spinning as he walked.  He couldn’t hear his footsteps, or the sounds of the street, or his own thoughts as he walked on autopilot to the place he’d grown so used to visiting.

The clearing seemed darker than it had been before, less welcoming and entirely unfamiliar.

The blanket fort was still up.  He hadn’t bothered to take it down.  Besides, Albert and him had planned to use it more.  One of the blankets blew in the wind, falling unceremoniously from the tree.  

It seemed to wilt along with the rest of the place.  Even the trees had lost their charm.

Race became acutely aware of the tears that stained his cheeks.  He only just remembered to breathe as sobs forced their way out of his stomach in painful waves.  

He didn’t remember walking to the fort, or taking down the blankets, attempting to fold them nicely, but giving up halfway through and discarding them with an angry shout.

He wished he’d never come here.  He wished that he’d stayed painfully oblivious to the beautiful clearing and the beautiful boy it had brought with it.

But he was cursed with the fate of meeting Albert.  Cursed with the fate of falling in love with him.

Doomed with the fate of losing him.

He sat down heavily on one of the blankets, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.  Eventually he stood back up, crossing to their tree and clambering onto their branch.  He struggled to stay balanced.  Albert was usually there to help him stay on.

As his tears ebbed away, leaving him empty and hopeless, the life of the forest seemed to rush back to him.

Animals were still traipsing.  Wind was still blowing through the trees.  Life was still going.

But he was gone without him.

-

maybe i should write some Not Angst next, thoughts?

thanks for reading, chiefs

hmu to be added to my tag

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[imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch]

Witch is When it All Began - A Review

I suppose at least I can mark this book off on the Popsugar challenge: A book with a plant in the title or on the cover.

I began this book back in October what feels like forever ago. Since it was spooky month and I fancied something at least tenuously linked to Halloween. I first went with the Discovery of Witches because a friend was watching it and said it was great, but I couldn't even get through the preview. So this was kind of a spur of the moment choice. The premise kind of reminded me of the Dresden Files which I wanted to enjoy and probably would have done if I didn't find Harry Dresden so irritating.

Yeah this was nothing like that. I think I liked this less. So, as seems to be usual for my 2019 reading so far, I am going to complain about some stuff.

Spoilers below.

So the fact I've been reading this book since October will probably tell you how engaging I found it. I finished the book today as a kind of get it out the way so I could start Lies Sleeping (latest in my current favourite series) sort of thing. I'm going to be honest and say though I read 100% of the book according to my kindle I don't remember the plot. There was a serial killer. He was caught somehow. There were also a generic magical bad guy who was called something quite on the nose. I can't remember the name, but I'm guessing it was the Dark Guy or something. (I looked it up so as to be more accurate and it was The Dark One literally described as "The most evil sup[ernatural being] of all")

So apart from all the issues around weird, really invasive family dynamics; the amount of clichés; a personal dislike of the magic system; and the boring romance subplot all of which I'm sure I'll talk about in a bit, I think the reason why I didn't like this book was that it felt like the first episode of a tv series. That might sound like a weird complaint since it is the first book of its series so isn't this essentially the same thing? But I think the difference here is, most books that are the first of a series have a plot that builds and is then completed. Strands are left open for the next book but you still feel like you have a whole story.

So here you have two main threads. The first is that Jill is a witch and is being kept hidden because this somehow keeps her safe from The Dark One. There's also the serial killer plot, which is completed with Jill catching the bad guy(s) and showing up the stupid police, but this feels like a "villain of the week" kind of plot. It's the exact sort you'd see in the first episode of your police procedural show. Meanwhile it takes a ridiculous amount of time for our main character Jill to find out and accept she's a witch and the book is heavily interspersed with family scenes which often feel kind of intrusive.

Looking at the witch plot: Jill finally goes with being a witch which was a relief given how exhausting her heavy scepticism was. (I guess it was going for realism since Jill is shown to be pretty logical but it dragged on too long. When you know she's a witch because that's the whole premise of the series I found I just wanted the book to get down to the magic already). So on that you kind of get closure and the whole cliff-hanger/next-book-bait is scary grandma calling and saying Jill needs magic lessons with her. But the whole Dark One and his followers plot completely disappears. It's introduced to let Jill's mum off the hook for abandoning her, and then vaguely mentioned again in ways like Jill thinking her cousins (who are wearing hoods) are the Dark One's followers, however there is never any serious confrontation with the Dark One or his followers. I was expecting her serial killer case to somehow tie in with the magical bad guys, but nope.

Again it's what you might expect to see in a tv pilot - little hints of the series arching villain but no real confrontation yet -  but it felt a little off in a book.

Thinking to the possible third thread of Jill's family this felt really odd to me. This family is super invasive. Jill has never met them before but after her mother's death these people force themselves into her life. They invite her over for dinners, invite themselves over to her flat, they want to celebrate their engagements with her, I suppose this is all relatively harmless sounding but it's done in a really pushy way. I mean they even buy her a dog. Seriously. They just get her a dog. I suppose at least they don't expect her to look after it - they say they'll do that for her - but they don't ask if she wants a dog. What if she wasn't a dog person? What if she had a phobia?

Her mother is another invasive example. She gave Jill up for saving-her-from-the-bad-guys reasons but wanted to watch her grow up. So she watches Jill as she grows up, knowing all about things including Jill's first kiss. If I found out somehow had been watching me all my life including private moments like my first kiss, I'd be furious. Jill just seems to kind of accept it - and even takes this spying as a sign her mother cares.

Next complaint: the magic. It didn't feel all that magical. I guess that's personal preference, but picturing  a series of images just seemed kind of lame. The more serious issue I have is the rules seem incredibly arbitrary and there doesn't seem to be any ethical considerations about magic at all, except when there is and then that makes the rest of the times when there is no ethical considerations about magic even more obvious.

For example one spell Jill finds is a mind-reading spell. One of the stipulations of the spell is that it wouldn't work on any humans or sups under the age of 18. This raises several questions. Will it work on non-human/sups under eighteen? Why eighteen? Is there something about being a minor that makes brain chemistry different? Do you suddenly change when you get to eighteen and become susceptible to things like mind-reading? Is it more a general consensus that children should not have spells put on them, and they are written as straight up rules therefore but actually you could read a child's mind?

Another stipulation is it can only be done once a year. Why? How does the magic know if you do it more than once a year? What will happen if you do it more than once a year? I don't know. For a first series book that does a lot of worldbuilding there is simultaneously not a lot of worldbuilding done.

Back to ethical implications and while on one hand you have this stipulation that you aren't allowed to read kids minds, on the other as a method of keeping secret magic town Candlefield a secret it is suggested to Jill by a family member (her mum I think) that she just casts a forget spell every time her sister brings the town up. And Jill does quite happily. Just wipes her sisters memory. Okay it’s a mild memory spell - the victim just forgets what they are talking about - but still. This doesn't sit quite right with me.

Next complaint is the amount of cliches - I mean Dark One - and the boring love interest. There's not much to say here other than there's a lot of cliches and a boring love interest in the form of a police detective who doesn't like private investigators.  I didn't like it very much but not enough to really write loads about these points. Oh except  I will say that at one point Jill reads Love Interest's mind and finds out he wants to kiss her. There's those ethics again. Or rather the complete lack of them. There's not even a debate or thought about whether or not this is ethical/moral etc.

My final point on this book is one that may feel a bit nit-picky and, when I had a quick scan through of reviews before I impulsive brought this book, I was like oh come on it can't be that distracting. I was proven wrong. It is that distracting. What am I talking about? The setting. So this book is presumably set in England because at one point Jill describes a character as "a man who could bore for England". And there are some very English things: mention of custard creams, use of the word "flat" rather than apartment. But honestly even with those I kept thinking this was set in America. It wasn't just the PI thing which in reality we don't really have. Hey if there are witches why not PIs. Though I guess Private Detective sounds a little more natural to me, I won't split hairs.

No it was everything else. Even the place names - Candlefield and Washbridge sound to me American. I can't put my finger on why that is - we have those kind of -bridge/-field names but most feel a little more obscure maybe? To test this theory I did a quick sweep of the southern part of England on google maps and I did find a Staplefield but the rest of the names are those kind of a bit ridiculous typically English names: Pease Pottage, Faygate, Kirdford, Wisborough Green, Ewhurst, and Loxwood being some of my favourites. And okay I know nothing about American town names - maybe they are nothing like Candlefield and Washbridge. And I get it would be harder to make up names like Coneyhurst (another great name) and Petworth (fab) but this is just the foundation of a slew of things that feel more American to me.

We get a description of "identikit houses" which Jill says she sees in Washbridge (her hometown) as opposed to the city of Candlefield (magic town). That's weird to me because even though newer housing estates which are very much identikit, pretty much every town I can remember going to in this country is a huge variety of architecture, especially larger cities like Washbridge apparently is. Because another comparison between hometown and magic town is that "There were no skyscrapers; the tallest building I could see was no more than three stories high." Many of our smaller cities are pretty low lying so having no scrapers isn't noteworthy, though having no building more than three stories is high is outside of smaller towns and villages so the emphasis of the sentence and the way its phrased feels a little odd.

More egregious is when Jill meets her cousins they ask her is she's ever "shot anyone". Our police force don't typically carry guns - we do have armed police but they are a specialist section that I assume you have to call in for emergencies. Maybe - all my knowledge about the police force comes from the aforementioned Rivers of London series and I don't know if that's accurate to real life so… Anyway the point is that Jill as a private detective definitely wouldn't carry a gun nor have the opportunity to shoot someone. It's therefore such an odd question to ask.  

This cultural confusion shouldn't impact the book, but it does somehow. It's a huge part of the world building that feels off. And since I have so many questions about magic too, this world just doesn't feel real to me.

Final point is that the climax of the novel is Jill solving the crime when the police have apparently caught the killer. This happens in two stages - the first being Jill working out the solution to two of the murders. We then pause and go on a shopping trip with Jill, her sister and her cousins. The point of this is so Jill can notice one of her cousin's engagement rings is too tight triggering her to solve the final murder but it still feels incredibly jarring to go from solved murder to a visit from the cousins. Anyway Jill realises the murderer was trying to force a ring onto his (ex)girlfriend's finger, and this is why her finger is swollen. I'm not any kind of medical expert. Maybe this would happen. But coincidentally I had a tight ring on today (I don't usually wear rings) and through the day it had worked its way down my finger and got stuck. I really had to yank it off. I mean at one point I thought it wasn't going to come off at all and I'd have to go hunt down the butter or something. After a good 30 seconds of tugging I finally got the thing off. My finger was neither red nor swollen.

I then got my smallest ring, a stacking ring intended for my little finger, and tried to force it as far down as it would go on each of my fingers in turn. And there's no way I could do it with as much force as someone else could do to me, but my fingers did in no way get red or swollen. Maybe I didn't do it long enough or something.

In summary this book wasn't what I expected. It was clear it was the first in the series and it seemed to be focused on and subsequently spent a lot of time setting things up, but I couldn't get invested in any of it. The birth family was pushy and invasive, magic didn't make sense, the culture clash was distracting. The story jumped too quickly and too randomly between the serial killer case and cutesy (supposedly) family meals and outings. The fact the Dark One didn't really show up was a disappointment and made me wonder why he was brought up at all.

All in all, Witch is When it all Began: 1/5

[xtravirt]

VMworld 2017: A Walk on the Client Side

by Curtis Brown

Although VMware tends to put a focus on the more glamorous side of Enterprise computing – Cloud this, Containers that, Hypervisor here, Automation the other…. – there is a side that in the past has been almost a cottage industry in comparison, VMware’s Type 2 desktop hypervisor products. But at this year’s VMworld they weren’t forgotten and got a session all of their own.

Developing Products

VMware Workstation (for Windows and Linux) and VMware Fusion (for Mac) have been around for some time – the latter is celebrating its 10th anniversary, while the former was released back in 1999.

The unified approach to the underlying VMware Platform means that the underlying Hypervisor service, VM hardware, VMware Tools and console, are common across the VMware product range. As a base, this then diverges to the different product teams for the Workstation/Fusion and ESXi vSphere layers.

This is significant, as this article will go on to discuss.

Welcome to the Next Generation

The big-ticket item for this session was the presentation of the new VMware Fusion release (version 10), and VMware Workstation release 14.  Both releases are important for several reasons, not least because it’s the first major version release since 2015.

So, what’s new?

The big one, common to both is VM version 14.  This is noteworthy for several reasons.  Firstly, there is support for VMs running the new Microsoft Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Ubuntu 17.04 and Fedora 26.  In the case of the former, Virtual Machines can be configured to support Microsoft VBS (Virtualization Based Security), i.e. Credential Guard, which is a significant development. VBS requires UEFI bios on a VM configured for Secure Boot and enabled for in-guest (nested) Virtualisation – VBS uses Microsoft Hyper-V components.  We also have virtual NVMe disk support for improved storage performance on VMs too.

Further, with respect to VBS, it was mentioned that a future point release will support this on the host desktop PC, essentially allowing Hyper-V to run alongside Workstation.   Time will tell whether this comes to pass.

Remember the comment about the common underpinnings between the different VMware products being significant?  Ask yourself this – what does VM version 14 mean for the next vSphere release?

Both products gain full support for importing OVA packages. This allows, for example, the configuration of an appliance via the GUI, as would be the case in VMware vSphere. This means that the vCenter Appliance can be deployed in a fully supported manner in the GUI.

There are also improvements in Virtual Networking such as Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro Virtual Networking, which now includes a Latency emulator for network stress testing.  Both products also provide enhancements in their ability to control a VMware vSphere estate.

For VMware Fusion users, there’s an API framework with 20 VM controls for scripting.  Furthermore, the graphics engine now supports MacOS Metal rendering engine, which provides a marked improvement over OpenGL, though the latter is available as a fall-back mode.  For those MacBook users with the fancy new Touch Bar – this is now supported in VMware Fusion.

VMware Workstation Player has taken on a particularly key role in more recent times as a delivery mechanism for corporate desktop VM builds to BYOD or offsite locations, often using VMware Horizon FLEX.  To that end, VMware have put some effort in improving the User Interface design.   Workstation Pro continues to be the tool for developers using Windows/Linux desktops – the Network testing capabilities being a prime example of that.

Closing Thoughts…

Far from being a product left to whither on the vine, VMware have breathed new life into these popular products.  They remain at the leading edge with respect to local capabilities while continuing to serve a wide array of use cases from developers to business users to home users.

If you’re interested in exploring the latest virtualisation solutions but not sure where to start, please contact Xtravirt, and we’d be happy to use our wealth of knowledge and experience to assist you.

About the Author

Curtis Brown joined the Xtravirt consulting team in October 2012. His specialist areas include End User Compute solutions and Virtual Infrastructure design and implementation with particular strength in VDI, storage integration, backup and Disaster Recovery design/implementation. He is a VMware vExpert 2017.

[scragon]

Aaww yeeaaaaaaaa. Did i mention i LOVE harry potter? 

Day 2 of the October sup guy challenge by geekygingerbread: Draw a Sup Guy dressed as your favorite character from a book.